


The monsters in such humanlike guise

by Fiannalover



Category: Dragalia Lost (Video Game)
Genre: Bruises, Complete, Gen, Post-battle battlefield, Sparring, Thunderstorms, Unconsciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2020-10-05 04:45:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20483084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fiannalover/pseuds/Fiannalover
Summary: Fear the beast that Nature controls,Fear the Dragon's and the Crystal's,Fear the child filled with manaFear not the unknown, but the deathless warFear the lightning that tears the ground apartFear the man they all call friend





	1. Beast of Nature

Ezelith’s daggers covered themselves in water, holding themselves, however barely, against the blade that sparred against them.

She prided herself on being a genius, something all on the Halidom were well aware of, by now. Of course, sparring was always necessary to sharpen her wits and body, so, even if she wasn’t fight-happy enough to do so non-stop, she appreciated it.

This time, though…

Another strike she parried sent her skidding backwards.

She was incredibly outmatched.

Her blows were caught, one by one, with the few that weren’t pretty much doing nothing. This was hopeless.

Nature swung his blade again,striking her shoulder. Even if they were using practice weapons, it stung. Each strike felt utterly hopeless.

The genius attempted to keep up for a while longer. But it didn’t matter. No matter how many styles she tried, how many tactics she employed, her opposition remained relentless. As much as she disliked to admit, if she kept the fight going on, all she’d get would be more and more bruises.

Specially since this man isn’t one who’d stop on his own…

“Halt!”

Hearing her plea, Mikoto stopped, just before his wooden blade striked Ezelith again. Looking at her with his usual blank face, but with a tiny bit of questioning in it, she explained. “A genius must recognize when she faces defeat. Thanks for the match, Mikoto.”

Sheathing his blade, the warrior nodded and said goodbye, before quietly going on his way, where a certain Dragon clearly awaiting for him on the distance.

Nursing wounded body and pride, Ezelith sighed.  _ I never had a chance, _ she accepted.  _ No one could, against a beast of nature like that. _

_ If we weren’t using practice weapons, he’d have killed me 12 times over. _

The thought sent a shiver down her spine, not that she’d ever admit that. But still, this wasn’t someone she’d look forward to meeting again. No genius could control nature. No one could, except life herself.


	2. The Dragon's Guardian and the Princess of Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear the Dragon's and the Crystal's

A sailor rested on his room, polishing the staff he wielded on the battlefield.

There were a lot of strong people within the Halidom, he thought. Warriors from all over, high and low born, from the inside and outside of Alberia, all pledging their strength and knowledge to Euden's cause, thanks to the Prince's special way of bringing people together. When he joined the place, he thought he’d meet plenty of them, sure.

But still, this was beyond his expectations. He had expected the might of the Dragons, but…

* * *

_The Aegis slammed upon it’s opponent, summoning enough strength to make her, in all of her might, stagger._

_Time and time again, as Brunhilda striked with full power, so did the lance wielder push her back, without hesitation or mercy._

* * *

They weren’t dragons. But they surely weren’t human, either. To be this strong, to be capable of standing up against what was supposed to be one of the strongest creatures of the land and just.,,

* * *

_The child of ice raised a wall of the most solid crystal he had ever seen._

_Screaming and freezing the entirety of the arena surrounding them, the crystallian won the fight against the dragon fire._

* * *

It was weird, to learn, after his entire life dedicated to the marine, that people this inhumanly strong lurked nearby. All of this, it just made his life beforehand seem so… Small.

…

It was weird, to think of how he somehow found comfort in that.


	3. The child of the mana that comes from the forest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear the child filled with mana

Sophie had seen plenty of unusual behaviors when it came to mana, both before and after, but specially after arriving on the Halidom. There was the protection that seemed to guard the prince, the child that felt like ice itself, pure, uncontrolled lightning, and something so still, it felt like death.

But, her current puzzle might as well be the opposite of stillness. It was much. An always shifting too much.

When she first saw Maribelle, the girl was comforting. A young soul, whose mana and spirit ran as free as the wind Sophie consulted upon. However, she changed. The girl would droop upon a moment’s notice, affected by waves of mana far more than any other in the castle. And she knew why.

Even though the Prince made an effort to keep her safely in the Castle as much as possible, the times she showed up to the battlefield showed her sensitivity to mana. The whirlwinds Maribelle called forward were oftenly far greater in strength than the ones that grown mages could create. She was a mana conductor of the highest degree, with all the good and bad that came from that.

Just how, did she come to be…

* * *

Well, there was only one way to know.

Sophie let Maribelle lead the way, with the kid skipping, hopping and humming as they went on to the child’s house. The forest wasn’t dark or anything, but Sophie still felt something slowly change.

“Have you been living with your granny forever, Maribelle?”

“That’s right!” She confirmed, now shifting to marching ahead. “Only me and her! She taught me a lot of stuff! About how to care for the forest, the animals, a thing or two about mana, all that! Not as much as what school is teaching me, but still! Oh, here we are!”

By now, a noticeable layer of mana covered the air. A little wooden cabin rested, hidden in the forest, with something about it making it seem like it’d disappear at any moment. And yet, from inside it, an elderly being came out.

“Why, hello there, sweetie! I see you brought a friend, this time!”

* * *

Tea followed the greetings, with plenty of pleasantries swapped. However, that wasn’t what Sophie came here for. Before long, the elderly woman found some random chore for Maribelle to do in the woods, making the girl leave the house for a while.

“So, you want to ask me something. What is it?”

“What is Maribelle?” Sophie asked, straight to the point. “How can she process so much mana with ease? And, as a consequence… Who are you?

A small, warm laughter that brought forth the smell of oak trees filled the room, as the elderly lady said. “My sweetie, Maribelle, is just a child of this forest’s mana, that is all. She can take and give so much, we decided to protect her ourselves.”

“So, that is what you are.” Sophie noticed. “The forest itself.”

“Who knows? One day, at least, I was as human as you.” The old lady said. “And as human as my granddaughter.”

“In that case… Will Maribelle...”

“I don’t know. She is very sensitive to mana. I expected her to just follow my footsteps. But she went on outside the forest. She met the Prince. She saw towns and castles.” The old lady said. “I don’t know what will become of her. But her sensitivity will always follow her. She’ll always gather magic in a strength few can match.”

Accepting that, Sophie decided to go further into the research. “Can you show me? You might as well be mana itself, so can you show me how much she experiences?”

Another laugh came, before the old lady decided. “Very well. Don’t worry, I won’t do anything that damages you. But it’ll certainly give you a scare.”

With the forest mana’s entering her, letting her feel the amount of mana Maribelle controlled regularly, Sophie’s mind went blank, with her unconscious body avoiding hitting the cabin floor with a thud only due to the forest’s wind holding it in place. 


	4. Unnatural Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear not the unknown, but the deathless war

Suffice to say, the Halidom gave a lot of study opportunities for a man like Heinwald.

Nevermind the nearby Library Obscura, even though it most certainly was the first thing that attracted him to the place, and also a place that, suffice to say, gave him plenty of revelations. However, it didn’t take long for something else in the castle to get his curiosity: The mysteries of it’s inhabitants.

The boy from the Tutelaries whose youthful face concealed his power and age. The court sorceress that, apparently, didn’t age a single day for the last thirty years. The sylvan attendant that guarded the place. The maniacal scientist whose mask forever covered his face.

Even if he wasn’t as intrigued or focused on finding out more about them, the noble knew his partner well enough to be aware Curran also kept a close eye on many of the Halidom’s inhabitants. It was only natural, for an Inquisitor to do so.

For Heinwald, though, at the current moment, two people in particular were the ones he focused at.

Regarding the first of the two, she was right in front of him at this very moment.

* * *

A queen of days long gone by, the nobility, grace and warmth with which she carried herself and drank the tea they shared easily hid how cold to the touch her skin was. And also, the being that allowed her to still be alive and well on this day and age.

The connection wasn’t one that Heinwald made, at first. Language changes as time and place goes by, after all. But the more time they spent together, the more he noticed. The similarities. The way night and darkness followed her mana. Nefaria wasn’t just old. Her existence was now something ancient.

Just like him.

“Knowing who I am,” The investigator asked, “you do not fear me?”

“Whatever reason would I have to do such a thing?” Nefaria replied, as the shadows around both of them seemed to dance a bit. “This darkness was no evil on my land. Twas ancient, even then. Dangerous, perhaps, but just another deity with it’s faithful and it’s chosen. I have no fear of you, for I am the same as you. We are parts of nature, as unnatural as we seem.”

Yes. That was right. Inherently, nothing was vile about their monstrosity.

The second person he has an interest on, however, could only be the opposite.

* * *

The laughter of war rang through a deathless battlefield.

At the end of a trail of corpses, bloodied, battered, but still drawing breath, through some impossible mercy, war vanished, leaving only the boar who called upon her power.

In spite of the inherent good in ending conflict with no causalities, the man who tamed and created such an unnatural war could only be a monster.


	5. He who fights monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear the lightning that tears the ground apart

If you asked Vixel since when his hearing was so precise and perfect, he’d answer “since birth”. For as long as he lived, his ears had gifted him with ears that picked up and identified the slightest, smallest sound with precision detail, an ability that was most certainly handy when singing and, later, conducting.

However, there were times in which it had it’s drawbacks. Hearing so precise only meant that loud sounds where much more striking. And, right now…

Thunder struck Vixel’s ears once again, making his head start ringing.

The conductor always dreaded thunderstorms, for this very reason. Too loud. Too noisy. Too painful. Whenever lightning showed itself, he dreaded the moment thunder would arrive, hoping the noise it would make was something distant and faint.

Right now, however, he might as well have been on the ground zero of a tempest.

The man he was assigned to go alongside ran circles around their target with ease, bringing another explosion of lightining and crackling whenever he swung his sword. It was too much. Too much, too much, too much. Vixel was glad Albert was holding the enemy by himself, because, by now, he could only fall to the ground, desperately trying to cover his ears.

Albert raised his sword, summoning lightning to fall upon the manticore fiend.

The loudest, rawest explosion of thunder and mana that Vixel ever heard hit his ears.

Screaming in pain, the conductor, whose ears refused to stop ringing, prayed to Ilia that this would go away, as fearful as a child when a thunderstorm rocked it’s home. Make it stop, make it stop, make it…

“… xel. Vixel. Vixel!”

His ears still ringing, although that pain was finally starting to vanish, Vixel opened his eyes, finding himself still kneeling on the ground while Albert looked over him. The conductor rubbed his forehead, still feeling the last bits of a headache, when the man from Levin asked. “What happened? I finished off the fiend by myself. I thought an stray attack from it hit you, but I can’t see any injuries.

“Apologies. My hearing is far more sensitive than that of the average person.” Vixel admitted, although he certainly didn’t like the fact he was implying it was the other man’s fault. “I just… Couldn’t handle the noise that came from your thunder and it’s mana.”

Taking in those words, Albert just got up and nodded, far too fast for Vixel to notice if there was any change in demeanor, positive or negative, from what he said. Instead, the man just offered his hand to help him back on his feet, and stated. “I’m the one who apologizes. I’ll try to restrain myself more, as well as ask Euden not to pair us together like this in the future. I don’t want to cause you, or anyone else, unecessary harm. Now, let us get back to the Halidom.”

Once Vixel got up on his feet, Albert turned around and started making the way back. With the calm after a storm that haunted them, the conductor thought of the man Albert was after, and how the Levin’s Champion described him.

…

Yes, To fight against such a beast, it was only natural Albert would be it’s equal.


	6. Demon of Dragonlight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fear the man they all call friend

He had somehow grown used to the weirdness of the Halidom, Prometheus supposed.

The Castle, in itself, was sturdy and strong. Truly, it wasn’t hard to believe it held it’s own against enemy armies, time and time again. However, that idea faltered a bit when looking at all the people resting inside it.

It was impossible. The idea that all these incredibly different, and incredibly powerful humans, sylvans and dragons gathered on this place seemed like something that could end only in disaster, no matter what.

And yet, it didn’t.

And yet, this unstable recipe was held together flawlessly by a man who convinced him, too.

Euden,

Euden, who took in all who asked for shelter.

Euden, who looked at armies, Dragons and fiends in the face, and unsheathed his sword, to put them down, once and for all.

Euden, who charmed all who listened to him, some way or another.

Euden, who carried the strength to defeat entire armies by himself, by now.

Euden, the boy who was demon and dragon alike.

“Prometheus? Is everything alright? You have been standing there for a while.”

Opening his eyes, Prometheus looked at the King, whose new armor shined in the sun, radiating the power that lied within, simultaneously wise beyond his years, and oh, so young. The King that carried the same ideals he so eagerly fought for.

“Euden, you are a little weird, aren’t you? Not unlike me.”

“You’re… Not the first one to call me that.” Euden admitted, just slightly sheepishly. “But… Is that good? Or is it bad?”

“… Good.” Prometheus answered. “I want to believe it’s good.”

The King nodded politely, before eventually excusing himself to take care of other matters.

He’d make sure he remained good, Prometheus thought.

He’d make it so, no matter what.


End file.
